


Hush, Cain

by Pjupejj



Category: The Binding of Isaac (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Gen, Hallucinations, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 15:14:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10337442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pjupejj/pseuds/Pjupejj
Summary: Cain is suffering. Judas tries to help him, but something goes wrong in the process.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Cain bűne](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9980843) by [Pjupejj](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pjupejj/pseuds/Pjupejj). 



> Translated by HalloVinny.  
> The original title was changed.

“Help… please”

Cain didn’t realize that he’s talking. His whole body was trembling, he couldn’t move. He lay on the floor with closed eyes, breathing heavily and tears flowing down his cheek. The nightmare didn’t release him, the pictures were swirling in his head. They weighed him down, he felt like he was choking, making him breathe faster. He was overwhelmed with panic, his shaking fingers scratching the basement’s dirty floor. His body was cold, his stomach felt empty, and Cain thought that he’ll be devoured by fear. His chest was rising and falling quickly as if he ran, but taking even one step seemed impossible for him. He still didn’t open his eyes – he squeezed them shut instead, hoping that the dark spots dancing on his eyelids would chase the dark, bitter thing that woke him up away.

All of his attempts were useless. He regained a bit of his consciousness but kept trembling; cold sweat along with tears dripped down his face. He felt wetness in his ears. He was disgusted of this situation.

He wanted to force himself to turn on his side. He kept silently repeating that he can do it, just one move and he’ll be safe, but his body didn’t obey. He stayed as he was, naked, shaking on his back with completely numb limbs. Cain was only glad that he couldn’t open his mouth, otherwise he would have screamed.

He lay motionlessly for minutes until he calmed down a bit. His breathing slowed down, his involuntary crying stopped too. He listened to his heart beating, quietly –that he was alive. This is what made him snap awake.

He raised his hand and wiped his face. It was difficult to do, as if the member belonged to someone else. He turned his head and stared into the room’s darkness. He couldn’t see anything, yet he was relieved. He felt safer there than in his head, filled with horrible memories and dreams.

“Isaac? Maggie?” Cain spoke hoarsely. He was whispering, but even this was hard for him; his voice broke, only soft whines came out when he tried again. He was mad at himself for being helpless.

He curled up, hugged his knees and took a couple of deep breaths before the next attempt. The urge to cry pricked and burned his throat the more he tried not to get overwhelmed by it.

He started sobbing and cursed every living being for it. He stared into the darkness and didn’t blink until his eye started to hurt. He was too scared to close it. He was afraid of what would be waiting for him inside.

“Maggie?”

Cain was whimpering unconsciously. He rocked back and forth, his knee kept hitting his chin. He was praying to survive the night – if it will ever end in the basement. He wanted to see the sunlight again, but he’s been getting further away from it step by step ever since he escaped down here.

He made a howl-like sound. He couldn’t believe that no one could hear him. As if the whole world turned its back to him.

“Shut up, Cain.” Hearing his name felt like a punch. He froze and stared into the nothingness. “What’s wrong with you?”

The voice came from behind his back, right next to him. Cain didn’t answer; after a long time he chose the inner darkness again, instead of reality. He barely breathed, as if he could make Judas believe that he’s asleep – or that he’s not even there, vainly. The silence lasted for a few seconds, then ended, disappeared along with Cain’s hopes.

“Hey, lucky boy,” whispered Judas next to his head, “why the hell are you crying?”

Cain was confused, he couldn’t think clearly. A bunch of conflicting feelings crashed on him, pinning him down. He wanted to look at Judas to tell him straight in the eye that he’s okay, but only his shoulders slouched down. He seemed to be yielding. He was finally thankful that it’s night.

“I’m not crying,” he said in the end, “and you shut up, Judas, it’s none of your business.”

The answer didn’t sound as angry as he really was. Judas could make him mad with his presence alone, and when he opened his mouth, Cain wanted to strangle him.

He felt the need to do it at this moment too, as Judas didn’t really want to stop bothering him. It was a great opportunity for him to annoy Cain, especially since the one who could stop him was sleeping far away from them, along with Maggie.

“Shuuut uup, it’s none of your business” mocked him Judas. Cain pressed his lips together and bit his tongue. “I’m Caaain and I had a niiightmaaare.” Cain was sure that he was grinning. “Oooh, poor meee!” The annoying voice made him sick.

“Enough” he hissed. He bit his mouth so hard from the anger that it started bleeding. Cain turned to his other side – he only guessed, rather than saw that Judas was next to him.

“Right,” said Judas in a less rude tone, “before you tell mom.” Judas stopped with a hiccup-like sound and held back his laughter. “Wait, sorry, no. She wants to kill us. Forget what I said.”

Cain was starting to get tired of this conversation. He tried to push back the bad feelings caused by the nightmare, but he didn’t feel too pleasant about Judas either. He didn’t even care about his last comment.

“No” he said. “From the two of us, you’re the betrayer” he closed his eyes and his mind, ending this conversation on his part.

“You read that in that lame book of yours too?” Judas seemed hurt. Cain decided that no matter what he wants from him, he won’t answer. This wasn’t the kind of help he needed – Judas only made him feel worse than he did fifteen minutes ago.

They both lay in silence. Cain focused on Isaac’s quiet breathing; he tried to adjust his own and fall asleep again. He believed that he can do it. After this day and all the strange memories filling his head, he couldn’t imagine anything worse that could be waiting for him. He was exhausted, a few spots of dried blood covered his body, which was shivering from the cold on the trampled basement floor. He missed his bed. He missed his normal life.

He remembered how he met Isaac.

Cain was running. He ran from room to room, crushing spiders under his feet while not looking back even once. He was scared, and if he didn’t hear the faint sniffling from far away he would’ve gone past Isaac without noticing him. But he heard it, then saw the little boy in the farthest corner of the room. Half of his face was stained with blood, he was startled but seemingly unharmed. He was curled up on the floor and kept crying.

“Do you want to hurt me too?” Isaac was cornered. He was visibly in despair – his gaze shifted between Cain and the open door behind him. Cain was still trembling, but he tried to pull himself together. He was a few steps away from Isaac, but he was as scared as the other boy. He didn’t want to go any closer.

“…no” he said after some time. He leaned on his knees until his breathing got steady. “No, I don’t.” Cain could barely talk. He took a step closer to Isaac who flinched, but stayed still. He wanted to believe him.

Cain took some time calming Isaac down as well as himself too. He felt safe with him and even believed that they could survive this whole mess. As if luck was on Cain’s side. But no matter how lucky he felt, he was still scared and alone. The support he gave little Isaac wasn’t expected to be returned. But still, Cain needed it.

The strange past took him over again. Every part of his body was shaking, his nails dug into his shoulders as he hugged himself. Cain wanted to defend himself but he was paralyzed. He helplessly let the black thoughts take him over. He was drifting between sleep and wakefulness; he watched everything that happened to him as an outside observer. He was Cain, the everything and Cain, the nothing, far away from himself. He did feel the pain that came with it, though. It was getting worse and worse. He felt sick, lost his consciousness and woke up again a second later. The pain was tearing him apart. His eyes were wide open, yet the world fell completely dark for him. He was crying bloody tears and screaming at the top of his lungs. Half of the world became a red mess for him.

Cain curled into a ball. He scratched the skin off his upper arm, bloody cuts covering it from his elbow to his shoulder. His teeth clicked, he breathed with a whistling sound. He was panting with an open mouth, drooling and crying; dust and dirt stained his face which he didn’t even feel. Some kind of shock struck him, he was whimpering quietly as if he was in pain. The room seemed distorted, reality started to merge with his dreams. He was screaming internally, no other sound leaving his mouth for minutes, but Cain didn’t understand why no one nearby heard him. He was crying for help. Any help, just save him.

Cain didn’t want to die.

He kept screaming, though his mouth barely moved in reality. He choked out a quiet moan, while sniffling. Cain was helpless. He could’ve even drowned in his own snot.

“Hush, Cain”

The voice came to him through layers of foggy desperation. Cain lay in a strange, pitch dark place, so the request was like a ray of light for him. He grabbed onto its warmth and began crawling towards it.

“Cain”

He was slithering on the floor like a worm, broken, crying bloody tears.

“Cain, it’s enough”

The touch was different. It didn’t belong to the one that hurt him.

“You’ll wake them up.” Cain finally opened his eyes. He was in the cold room again, covered in sweat but completely unharmed. He considered the voice as the last thing left from his nightmare, but he heard it again and it started to become real.

“Ssh” Cain felt slender fingers stroking him, then they were gone. Judas was holding his shoulder, almost too firmly. He held Cain down, who couldn’t stop shaking. “Your whining will wake up the whole catacombs, you dumbass!” Considering how loud Judas was talking, he had way higher chances of waking up the other two than Cain’s sniffling, but he didn’t care. “What’s your problem?”

“I had a nightmare about mom.” Cain gave up. He didn’t have any energy to either deny or object, so he said the first thing that came to his mind, even if it wasn’t true. His hallucinations didn’t have anything to do with their mother, but he was too tired to explain anything, especially to Judas. Cain didn’t like him. He couldn’t tell why, but Judas was the last one he’d tell how awful he feels because of some inexplicable fantasy.

“I hope you’re lying,” said Judas, “because I wouldn’t expect even you to shit your pants because of her.”

“Whatever” Cain sniffled and held his tears back. “Leave me alone”

“If you’ll let me sleep.” Judas hissed at him. He got up, not releasing Cain but pulling him up as well. “Come with me”

“I’m not going anywhere” Cain started to get used to the darkness, although he could barely see Judas. Squinting his eyes, he stared in the direction where he thought Judas’ face was to emphasize his words.

“Yes, you are”

Judas stood up and no matter how much Cain resisted, he pulled him up and away from Isaac. The little boy turned to his other side which made both of them froze for a moment, but Isaac continued sleeping. Cain let out a sigh. He focused on freeing his arm from Judas’ grasp again. He had no chance however. Between the two doors Judas went towards the further one, dragging him along.

They walked through empty rooms. Despite having been in this part of the basement, Cain was creeped out by it and soon quickened his pace to keep up with Judas. As if even he didn’t know where were they heading, they just walked in a random direction. Regardless of how long it took, they were only two rooms away from the place where they’ve stopped for the night. There was a small fire in one of the corners of the room, a fly could be heard buzzing around somewhere. Cain just stepped in, right after Judas and the door closed behind them.

He didn’t really get scared but the sound still startled him. Cain pulled his hand free and looked around. He observed the shadowy corners and expected some monster to attack them, but aside from the buzz of the lone fly, he only heard his own heartbeat.

“Oh, calm down already” Judas killed the fly with no noticeable fear. “I’ve dealt with the killer fly, see?” The orange light drew strange, dark ditches on his face. For a moment Cain saw him as something unearthly. But Judas walked away from the fire and the eerie evilness vanished from his face.

“I’m calm as fuck,” said Cain, shifting his gaze between him and the rest of the room, “especially since we’re still locked in here. What else could come next?” He almost cried the last words.

Judas was silent and Cain felt a lot worse than a minute ago. At that time, he could at least blame being stuck in the room on something, but the only sensible reason was lying dead in front of Judas.

Cain pressed his lips together, his eyes looking for an exit. A thick stone slab was blocking the hallway they came through, as well as the door located on the other side on the room, leading to God knows where.

“You know how these doors work” he said carefully. Meanwhile he backed to the shorter wall from where he watched Judas. They were only a few steps away from each other, and Cain saw Judas frowning.

“Yeah, with blood sacrifice. Pretty primitive.” Judas shrugged. Despite speaking in a derogatory tone, his voice suggested something else. “Maybe I should offer up your blood to open them?” He grinned at Cain.

“You’re so fucking funny” he said. His lips barely moved; Cain was focused on hiding his nervousness about the closed doors. “For real, this isn’t right.” He was mostly talking to himself rather than to Judas. “The fly is dead. The room is cleared. Why the hell are the doors still closed?”

“Cain!” Judas cut him off before he could continue. “Don’t move!” Judas looked behind Cain’s right shoulder, but he was talking to him. “Don’t move,” he repeated, “I think something came after you straight from your nightmare”

Cain froze at first – his hands were shaking, he was panting heavily, completely terrified, but when he realized that Judas was just messing with him, he became infuriated. He closed his eyes and didn’t open them until his fist(s?) were unclenched. He was afraid that if he did, he would’ve strangled that grinning idiot.

“Are you finished?” he whispered after some time. “What you’re doing is awful.” Cain managed to control his anger; now fear started to take his mind over and he hated it. He tried to focus on something else. “I want to go back to Isaac.” Cain almost ignored Judas’ presence. He was mad at him for putting them into this situation – he believed firmly that it’s all Judas’ fault –, but not enough to care about him anymore. At this point his mere sight only made him feel bad and he didn’t this.

When he made sure that he’s not in danger, Cain sat down against the wall. He laid his head on his knees and stayed silent. He was thinking about that he was starting to become like Isaac.

“Well, concerning that you were crying for Mags until now, that was a pretty quick change” it seemed as if Judas wasn’t even bothered by the situation. He stood near Cain, looking down at him with crossed arms. With the wobbling lights behind him, he reminded Cain of some statue of a dark god. He was disgusted by the sight.

“I don’t even want to know what you’re talking about” He closed his eyes to get rid of the fake idol. “Get us out of here” Cain pressed the ‘us’ strongly “I don’t want to hurt you”

He pressed his lips together at the moment he said it. He had no idea if the statement was true. He was scared of Judas ever since he saw him – Cain then turned this into pure hatred, but he wasn’t sure if he could ever harm him.

Cain was struggling, but Judas didn’t even notice it. For a moment he was surprised but got over it quickly. Cain didn’t understand how could he take everything so easily.

“That’s cute, but you could never hurt me.” Cain didn’t even look at him anymore, the mocking voice was enough to imagine the expression that came with it. He simply ignored the statement; there was no kindness in it. “By the way, what makes you tell me what to do? You’re the money boy, not the Lord himself!”

Cain tried to be around Judas as rarely as possible, but he still knew when it was time to not give a shit about anything he says. He didn’t let Judas anger him, but he was irritated enough without his reproach too – he answered hastily, his gaze shifting around again.

“Shut up,” he said, “you know how it goes. The door won’t open if there’s a living being inside.” He stopped for a moment. He took a deep breath then continued; his eyes stopped on Judas’ face. “One of us has to die.”

As if Judas didn’t even hear it. He was staring at Cain; first he opened, then closed his mouth like he didn’t know what to say. It was only after some time that he made any sound – he laughed. It made Cain’s skin crawl.

“Don’t be so dramatic, we won’t kill each other” Judas kept laughing. “I’ll bomb the door, okay, princess?”

“Fuck you” said Cain. “Do you keep your bombs under your little hat, by the way?” he asked with honest curiosity. “If yes, it won’t help us. Thanks, Judas.”

“Okay, I may not have any bombs,” replied Judas. He indeed wasn’t wearing his fez, and wherever he kept his bombs, he didn’t have any at hand, “but I’ve got this.”

In his hand was their mother’s kitchen knife, used as a sacrificial dagger. It was stained with dried blood here and there.

“Where did you get _that_?” Cain couldn’t believe his eyes. He should’ve been scared, but the surprise seemed stronger.

“I take it everywhere with me.” Judas shrugged. The statement was natural for him.

“I thought that demonic book was your everything.” Cain was more careful now, but he still didn’t choose his words. He may be scared of Judas, but will never respect him.

“It is, too,” he shrugged again, “but I won’t waste its power on you.”

Judas took the knife in his right hand and sat in front of Cain. The fire was behind him again; an orange glow fell on his shoulders and lighted a hateful spark in his eyes.

“Now, Cain, it’s story time!” he said lightly with a smile. “I’m sooo curious why I ended up in this situation thanks to you.” The tip of the knife was pointing at Cain’s stomach. He pushed it away in disgust.

“Don’t point it at me,” he said meanwhile, “and don’t blame me for you being a goddamn idiot either!” He spoke louder than intended. “I didn’t ask you to take me God knows where, then trap us in. Next time you want to explore the catacombs, go by yourself and leave me out of it.” Cain wanted to say a lot more. That he didn’t need Judas or his care, even less his loathing. He was sure that he despised him, so he wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

“Then stay here and cry about mom.” Judas started to lose his temper. “You’re pathetic, Cain. I don’t give a shit that she wants to kill us, you know? I’m not scared. I’m more than this.” He seemed to believe his words. Cain didn’t have any patience for his bragging.

“You sold your soul to the Devil.” he replied. He tried to protect himself from any future insults.

“And you’re a crybaby” said Judas. “I don’t even know which is worse. I don’t cry at night or beg for help either.”

Cain opened his mouth but couldn’t answer. He didn’t remember anything other than waking up sweating and with tears in his eyes. If he had made any sound he’d remember it, but no matter how hard he tried nothing came to his mind.

“You’re making things up” he said quietly. Judas shook his head.

“I’m not.” He was holding the knife even when he suddenly hugged himself and started rocking back and forth. “Someone help me, pleeease!” Judas let out such a high-pitched scream that it made Cain shudder. “Help! Help… sniff-sniff, please! I’m a little baby, someone save me.” He kept repeating the words in an agonized voice, becoming more obviously sarcastic. Cain went pale, but his face slowly turned red from the anger. He hit Judas’ arm which made him stop fooling around. “If you start crying again, I’ll kill you.” It wasn’t clear if he meant it or not.

“I won’t give you the pleasure.” Cain could barely answer, but he at least sounded collected when he finally opened his mouth. He looked at Judas straight in the eyes and didn’t turn away until the other did so first. “You don’t know shit about what happened to me.”

“I said don’t be so dramatic” Judas was talking surprisingly seriously. “Either tell me what’s your problem or let’s cover the floor with a little blood, then forget this all.” Judas pointed at him with the knife, but Cain shook his head. He wasn’t planning to give in to his stupid ideas.

“I don’t know if it was a dream” said Cain, then “I don’t know what even it was. Something chased me through cold, dark places, forever.” He paused a little, looking at the floor between them. He didn’t have the strength to look at Judas while talking.

“How original” he said. “As if we weren’t running through cold, dark places from our own mother who’s trying to murder us! I have no idea where could you get that idea from.”

“It was different,” he cut in, “it was a lot worse. My luck left me. Everything left me. There was only darkness and pain.” The longer he kept talking the heavier he was breathing. Cain hugged his knees more tightly; his arms were trembling. “I saw blood,” he said, “then nothing. My eye was cut out.” Cain was jabbering – he spoke fast, but increasingly quietly. “I saw it being taken away with my other eye, and it was terribly painful. I could feel going blind. The pain set my face on fire.” He was barely whispering at this point. He was hugging his head and pulling his hair. “And I knew that it will never go away, you know? That it’ll never kill me.” He teared up, wetting his eye patch. He was crying and rocking himself in silence, shaking.

 “I don’t want this, Judas.” His voice broke. “This isn’t my fate. I don’t want to see it anymore!”

Cain was trembling even when Judas held him down to keep him in place. He didn’t look up, but guessed that he was right in front of him. He didn’t even try to get away. As if everything became only worse – he wasn’t relieved after addressing what scared him.

“Shut up” repeated Judas for the hundredth time when he finally understood it. Cain sniffled but stayed quiet. He was exhausted. He didn’t want to fight him. One of the bony hands released his shoulder and grabbed his chin instead to force him towards the light.

“You lied all along?” Judas observed his face. He was too blurry, Cain could barely separate his actual form from the shadows. As if the evil god before him was crying bloody tears.

Cain shook his head, but not for long. Judas was holding him so firmly that it hurt him. He grabbed his wrist to try to get away from him.

“Your eye is completely fine?” Judas didn’t stop. Cain didn’t say anything – which was a confirmation. No one ever asked what happened to him, only accepted him as well as his eye patch, and he never talked about anything either because it didn’t seem important. But when he was questioned, he didn’t know what to say.

 “Goddammit, Cain, this is all your fault!” Judas seemed to be angry and desperate at the same time. Cain was too late to object – Judas managed to pull the eye patch off his head.

Cain looked at him with his unharmed and the other, pale red eye.

“I see things worse than what your demon god could ever show you” he whispered. “Maybe different lives that I’ve lived before, but they’re still strange to me.”

“I don’t care what you see with your fucking eye!” Judas was shaking. “You’ve turned the world upside down”

 “You’re insane! Why are you saying such things?”

 “No, you are!” Judas picked up the knife. “I don’t want to rot here because of your lie.”

Cain wanted to get away from him, but he was stuck between the wall and Judas. There was no escape.

 “I didn’t lie” he said again and again but Judas didn’t care. “What are you trying to do?!”

 “Your sin will be the sacrifice” said Judas with frightening confidence as he held up the knife. “You shall be deprived of your eye, as we shall be deprived of the misery that you’ve brought upon us. Lucky boy.” These two words were like blasphemy.

Cain was terrified, filled with panic and adrenaline. The numb coldness froze his body, yet he started talking. He wanted to save time before Judas could do anything to him.

 “If our sin trapped us in, then you should be killed to set us free” he jabbered as he was pushed to the wall. He put his leg between them, pressing his knee against Judas’ stomach to keep him away. “You’re soulless,” he said, listing the words in an indifferent voice, “dark, evil and greedy. You want to hurt everyone around you. Nothing will happen if you cut me. Not even if you tear me apart.” Cain looked up, his bloody eye sparkling. “Nothing will, except that you’ll become darker”

 “But never darker than you” hissed Judas. Cain stared at the knife which was only centimeters away from the left side of his face. Judas turned his wrist and the knife slipped forward – Cain screamed and collapsed at the wall.

His eye popped and dripped down his face together with a wide stream of blood. Cain could feel pain filling his eye socket and half of his face, then his body gave him mercy and he lost consciousness. Soon he woke up, but wished that he never did. The pain has become even more unbearable. Half of the world turned into a pulsing black fog, the other half was covered in colorful spots shifting around and he couldn’t see anything from his tears. His body was shaking, he felt sick and vomited, which burned his throat and his mouth. All of his members were shaking and numb – his face was hot and he was sweating. He felt dizzy, completely unable to move. For a moment he had even forgotten who and where he was. Maybe he fainted again. Even breathing was painful for Cain. He never wanted to wake up again.

Still, he woke up to anguish again and again. The remnant of his eye fell into the dirt next to his head. He was shaking, crying, vomiting again, but at this point only thick, white saliva leaked from his mouth.

Judas was kneeling in front of him. Blood and gooey sludge that used to be Cain’s eye was dripping from the knife – on his hand and before his feet. He was looking at the suffering Cain and noted every detail of the sight. His face became as stiff as a mask; a desperate and infatuated expression rested on his face despite not even feeling either. Judas only did what he thought was right, but didn’t care about the consequences anymore. He kept staring at Cain who was laying at the wall, trembling and shocked – his breathing has weakened while his bleeding seemed to be heavier.

Judas knew that he won’t die. He was sure of it for some reason. He bent down to him, drew his hand to his face but then changed his mind. He didn’t touch Cain again.

Judas heard the click, but for a while he didn’t realize what it belonged to. Three doors opened in the room. One towards Isaac and Maggie, one to the unknown, and one with a goat skull on it to the opposite of Cain’s body.

Judas turned away from Cain. He put the knife down and walked towards one of the doors.


End file.
